WORLD TOP SPORTS STARS: Nastia Liukin yang star

Anastasia Valeryevna "Nastia" Liukin (Russian: Анастасия "Настя" Валерьевна Люкина; born October 30, 1989) is a Russian American artistic gymnast and occasional actress. She is the 2008 Olympic individual all-around gold medalist, the 2005 and 2007 World Champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 World Champion on the uneven bars. With nine World Championships medals, seven of them individual, Liukin is tied with Shannon Miller as the American gymnast having won the most World Championship medals.[1][2] Liukin has also tied Miller's record as the American gymnast having won the most medals in a single non-boycotted Olympic Games.[3]

The daughter of two former Soviet champion gymnasts, Olympic gold medalist Valeri Liukin – the first man to do a triple backflip – and World Champion rhythmic gymnast Anna Kotchneva, Nastia Liukin was born in Moscow and moved to the United States as a young child. She began gymnastics after spending time in the gym while her parents coached. Liukin is coached by her father at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy, her family's gymnastics club in Plano, Texas.

Liukin became a member of the U.S. junior national team when she was 12 years old and won the National all-around title at the age of 13. She was the all-around silver medalist at the 2003 Pan American Games. Since 2005, Liukin has been a key member of the U.S. senior team. She is a four-time all-around U.S. National Champion, winning twice as a junior and twice as a senior. She has been the U.S. senior National Champion on the uneven bars since 2005. Liukin has represented the United States at three World Championships, the 2003 and 2007 Pan American Games, and the 2006 and 2008 Pacific Rim Championships.
Contents
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* 1 Personal life
* 2 Junior career
* 3 Senior career
o 3.1 2005–2006
o 3.2 2007
o 3.3 2008
+ 3.3.1 2008 Olympics
o 3.4 2009
* 4 Routines
* 5 Floor Music
* 6 Media appearances
o 6.1 Film and television
o 6.2 Professional Alliances
* 7 Competitive history
* 8 References
* 9 External links

[edit] Personal life

Liukin was born on October 30, 1989, in Moscow, Russia SFSR, USSR. She is the only child of two former Soviet champion gymnasts: 1988 Summer Olympics gold medalist Valeri Liukin and 1987 World Clubs Champion in rhythmic gymnastics Anna Kotchneva.[4][5] Liukin and her family are members of the Russian Orthodox church.[6] Her nickname Nastia is a Russian diminutive for Anastasia. The family moved to the United States when Nastia Liukin was two and a half years old, after the breakup of the Soviet Union,[7] and settled first in New Orleans before moving to Texas.[8] In 1994, Valeri Liukin teamed with another former Soviet champion athlete, Evgeny Marchenko, to open the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) in Plano.[4][9]

Liukin is fluent in English and Russian.[4][10] She graduated from Spring Creek Academy, located in Plano, Texas, in the spring of 2007.[11] She had enrolled as a freshman international business major at Southern Methodist University in January 2008, but took a leave from classes to concentrate on preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games. She returned to campus in Spring 2009, but her travel schedule and professional commitments caused her to withdraw before the end of the semester. Nastia's signature color is pink, hence her pink leotard worn during the 2008 Beijing Olympics All-Around competition.[12][13]

Liukin currently updates a blog on her official website and regularly posts on Twitter as @NLiukin. She has a line of GK Gymnastics Leotards and grips and a line of pink gymnastics equipment from AAI.

It is rumored that Nastia Liukin is in a relationship with American figure skater Evan Lysacek. People Magazine claimed to confirm their relationship in a February 2010 article,[14] but Lysacek denied the rumors in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, stating that the two are just "very close friends."[15]

Nastia Liukin